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[Blu-ray Review] ‘Blood Beat’: The Crazy Christmas Samurai Slasher!

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The Film

Blood Beat is a perplexing oddity that has managed to crawl out of the foggy ether of 1983, aided in its journey by the demented minds of Vinegar Syndrome. Long since forgotten after a barely there VHS release, Blood Beat makes its debut on blu-ray in a shockingly gorgeous transfer. A US/French co-production set in wintry snow-covered Wisconsin isn’t anything you might expect from a “slasher” of the time period. “Slasher” is in quotes for a reason. Blood Beat is much more than a simple dead teenager flick. Writer/director Fabrice A. Zaphiratos uses the sub-genre to deal with a heady mix of themes: the catharsis of art, familial ties bound only tighter by psychic links, the through-line of sex and death…oh, glow-y blue power balls and a killer samurai to boot!

The plot as it stands, beyond the basic setup, is esoteric at best. Likely, only Zaphiratos knew just what the hell was going on. We’re quickly introduced to serious-eyed Cathy who’s plagued by “visions” and her eager to please live-in boyfriend, Gary, as they get ready for the arrival of her children during the Christmas holidays. Surprise! Cathy’s son, Ted, decides to bring along his new girlfriend, Sarah. There’s a great deal of uncomfortable telekinetic hoodoo between Cathy and Sarah that puts an awkward spin on “meeting the parents.” It isn’t long before Sarah is having strange visions of her own, discovering ancient Japanese armor in a bedroom trunk, and having big “O’s” when things start getting bloody.

From there, the film is a muddled mess but in only the best of ways. There is a mysterious being watching local folk through their windows and breathing heavy à la Mikey Myers. It’s no spoiler to reveal the killer happens to be someone or something in the aforementioned samurai garb. The explanation for why that is, however, is a detail I’m still a bit fuzzy on. The film does a decent job of keeping the killer in the shadows for a majority of the action. By doing so, the cheese factor is kept to a minimum, allowing Zaphiratos to muster up several moments of genuine suspense. The plot expands to include Poltergeist-y kitchen assualt and more psychic/telekinetic 80’s goodness. It culminates in what amounts to the filmic equivalent of a laser light show. Plus, the final reveal truly takes the fruit cake for the most confounding moment of them all.

From a production standpoint, the movie has the look of many regional horror efforts from the 80s. It actually was shot on 35mm over the more cost effective 16mm but filmed in a oh-so-cinematic 4:3 aspect ratio. You can clearly see characters blinking when they’re supposed to be dead. The set design is “Grandma’s Cabin Chic” and the local actors are giving the nonsensical script their best. Lines such as “You’re very bright and very talented and very full of visions!” can’t be easy to pass off with a straight face. A quick glance on the film’s IMDb shows for most of those involved Blood Beat is their only credit. The same goes for the director as well.

To be honest, that’s a shame. Yes, in terms of narrative and basic story telling structure, Zaphiratos might not have quite been “there” yet when he helmed this, his first and only film. What’s amazing about this micro production, however, is the hypnotic quality to the proceedings. From the opening shots of frozen wilderness to the pulsating synth score – Blood Beat managed to cast a spell on me that had me mesmerized from beginning to end. Like a nice fluffy blanket on a chilly winter night, the film lulled me into its grasp with every illogical turn. Blood Beat becomes more of an experience than a piece of entertainment. Dare I call upon the name of Argento? But there’s a sliver of that hallucinatory magic in Blood Beat that is so evident in much of The Maestro’s earlier work. Sure, my more cynical side could claim the film’s score does a lot of the heavy lifting (it is pretty amazing), and some of those out of focus shots that help lend to the dreamlike nature of the film were likely not purposeful. These things might be true, but hearing Zaphiratos discuss the filming makes one think otherwise.

The Disc

Vinegar Syndrome has done an outstanding job on this release. An opening title card warns that while a 4k scan was created from the original camera negative, the print suffered from a great deal of damage and mold. They also explain the closing credits weren’t available and were sourced from the only available copy, a VHS. Despite that jarring shift in quality during the credits crawl (and seriously, who would complain about that…wait, I’m sure someone) the transfer is truly beautiful. Special note, the packaging lists the transfer as a 2k scan. Either way, the image is superb. Skin tones are natural, the muted palette of the film matches perfectly to the cozy cabin vibe of the whole endeavor, and the moments of color from psychic power orbs(?) or Christmas decor pop right off the screen. On the flipside, shadows are nice and deep without losing too much detail.

On the audio front, things aren’t nearly as pretty. The DTS-HD Mono track is heavily muffled and had me relying on the closed captioning in the quieter moments. This is likely more an issue with the original recordings. Much of the dialogue sounds like it was recorded under water. Thankfully, the droning score still comes through crisp, loud and clear.

Bonus content consists of a short “Silent Version” of the film, a short from the director’s own son, and best of all, two interviews. One is a lengthy and enlightening chat with the film’s cinematographer, Vladimir Van Maule. The other with the director himself. It’s clear from the chat (recorded this past July) that Zaphiratos fancies his film more of an art piece rather than a a mere slice of exploitation. He speaks of purposely choosing the various elements throughout production from costuming to vehicles, some brought over from France. This conversation throws the idea of this being a “run and gun/shoot what we got” type of production up in the air. Although, he does reminisce on his love of old Marvel and X-Men comics. Glow-y blue balls!


To reiterate, this is no ordinary stalk n’ slash. This pretty much takes the most basic setup (family in a secluded cabin coming under attack by an evil force) and delivers it in the most obtuse way. Why is there a supernatural samurai in Wisconsin on Christmas? We may never know. But, we can can be thankful that oddities like this are still being rediscovered and preserved on blu-ray. For connoisseurs of 80s cheese, you can’t get any better that Wisconsin cheddar.

SIDE NOTE: Even the film’s closed captioning is insane.

Home Video

‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

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Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

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